Apple Math {limited time only FREEBIE}

I love fall.  And not just because of pumpkin spice lattes.  Because I've only had two.  I love apples, leaves, pumpkins, cake, Thanksgiving, the smells of it, the weather...everything.  {I'm not sure how cake ended up in there but hey, let's go with it.}

My K-1 teammate and I are doing an entire integrated unit of all things fall as we compare urban and rural communities.  Starting with apples...in every content area.  That's right!  All. the. subjects.

I found these awesome apple workmats from Life Over C's.  We used them a few days, just practicing making number sentences and adding numbers together with "apples" {pom poms} on the workmats. They recorded their number sentences which helped me know who was getting it and who wasn't.

After practicing, I gave them a number sentence to glue down.  They had to tell me the answer before finding the basket with the answer on it.  Then they finger painted apples to show the amounts.  For the kinders who struggled with adding {the few that haven't mastered number ID or rote counting} I gave them a mat without the number sentence.  I just chose two numbers that I knew they needed to work on and they practiced counting the amount on individual trees.

I also used 10 Apples Up on Top for our math mentor text.  Since one of the 1st grade Common Core objectives is to order 3 numbers or amounts from least to greatest, we used this cute math activity from Kindergarten at Heart but added two more friends to help balance the apples.  We gave the students 3 number cards {primary number cards from the Investigations curriculum} for the kids to order.  Then they made fingerprint apples to represent the amounts.

For a non-math idea, I've started poetry notebooks this year and am so excited about it!  Like I said...apple everything...so an apple poem.  Obvi.  I got this one for free from What's the Buzz in First.  I'm going to make these much more interactive as we go on but for now, we're keeping it simple.  Read the poem {maybe add some hand motions if it's long or complicated}, highlight sight words {or letters, depending on ability}, illustrate it, practice reading it in all kinds of voices and then do something fun with the content.  Our fun project this week was the apple finger painting.  We'll also be sampling some apple products next week.

You're almost to the freebie.  First let's check in with Farley.  ;)

For a limited time only my brand new, literally just finished, haven't even used it yet Apple & Pumpkin tasting sheet is your treat.  I wanted to punch it up this year and do more than just graphing our favorite flavors.  Download, try it out and let me know what you think.  I'd love some great feedback on the TpT posting in return for your treaty treat.

Now I want a big ole mug of apple cider.  And a dress made of neoprene...thanks, Project Runway.  Happy October!